An Evertech Tale Chapter 12
#12 of An Evertech Tale
This is it, broken Splicer gets his ass beat, what Vay does here makes chapter four seem like a tickle fight. (Seriously, if you are not ok with non sexual sadism this chapter will not be for you.)
_ Boring, it was all so, boring. How many days has it been?_
The only fur left in the facility who wasn't bored, was Splicer. Tools had no need for things like entertainment. All he had to do was what he was directed to. He did all the jobs he was directed to, and once he was done, he would sit in front of the scratched table for hours. He had no idea what the marks on the table meant, and if he had the choice, he'd like a new table, not that he'd ever dream of asking for anything for himself. He just hated the idea of damaged product.
_ _
When a product is damaged it should be fixed.
_ _
He wasn't sure why, but he had a feeling somewhere deep down that he used to be damaged product before he came to, in that room, with the otter. But, he was happy to be fixed now! He wasn't even really sure what happened in those hours he spent staring at the scratched table, wishing he had a way to fix it. He just longed to be given more orders, but they never came. He sat in silence until he was directed to go to sleep. Laguna didn't bother sending directives with the usual teasing puppies or inflections, he just stuck to the bare minimum, it just wasn't the same, half the fun was the puppy's reaction.
Sleep.
** ** That was all he sent, that was all it took. Splicer moved from his position sitting in front of the table to laying in a ball in the crate. He almost wished he had a smaller crate, a smaller room, he was undeserving of all this space, he would be satisfied living in the elevator if nothing else, then he'd be able to get started on his daily chores earlier!
Wake up.
** ** Splicer's eyes opened, he got up and waited next to the machine that dispensed his food. He stopped making selection of the options provided, he took whatever was given to him. Occasionally he would be given coffee instead of water, which he felt was a waste, all he needed was water after all. He loved when it was oatmeal, despite how good it was with all the fresh cut fruit mixed in, it felt like the most fitting thing for him to eat from his dog dish.
When he stepped onto the elevator it was the best part of the day, he couldn't wait to find out how he'd be put to use, usually it was balancing spreadsheets which he worked through with robotic proficiency, making sure not to make a single mistake, he had an underlying fear of disappointing his owner, but he would never let that fear be shown. He kept the same blank expression no matter what he felt inside.
Splicer wished he didn't have emotions, it would make it so much easier to serve his owner even better. Today was one of the days where he was sent out to the back garden. He had to admit the sight of all the colour was stunning, but he just wanted to accomplish what he was ordered to do. Always panting the same blue flowers, Splicer figured it must be one of his owner's favourites, considering he had planted row after row after row of the same blue flower, until most of the gardens were almost entirely overtaken by blue.
Must be quite important to owner...
_ _
_ _ If it was a day in the garden that meant he would be sent up to the kitchen shortly, he finished his final row of planting before walking back to the office building and standing in front of the elevator, his eyes flicked to the front door, why would he ever want to leave though? He waited patiently for the doors to open.
"Hey, Splicer..." Aurich greeted him, not looking up from his prep work. He had been introduced to the gold striped skunk shortly after he was fixed. Splicer had no idea why the skunk looked at his with a pained look of pity on his face that first time, but it made him uncomfortable. He hoped he didn't wrong the skunk somehow.
"Hello." Splicer replied in his usual hollow tone.
"List is on the counter, you know what to do..."
Splicer did know what to do but he wished he was ordered to, it made him feel more secure. He knew the skunk wasn't technically his owner, but he was owned by his owner! That meant the skunk was a few rungs above the wolf on the ladder, actually if it was a ladder the wolf would be the ground the ladder stood on, begging to be used and crushed under the weight of responsibility and servitude. He picked up the list and got to work preparing the required ingredients with mechanical passionless motion.
Aurich was disgusted, he despised any fur who cooked without passion. He couldn't even watch as he focused solely on his own prep work, but he couldn't help but open his mouth.
"Sir Laguna told me you have blue blood? I almost didn't believe him until he showed me the samples..." Aurich tried to rouse anything other than some hollow response from the wolf.
"Yeah, my blood is laced with electricity. I heard it's quite rare, I can only hope it's put to better use than what I do with it." Splicer said with the usual monotone, but Aurich almost perked an ear, the wolf surely was joking, he couldn't be serious?
"Heh, haha!" Aurich couldn't help himself anymore. "What does it taste like? Is it like, a blue raspberry, or more of a blueberry flavour?"
"It tastes like blood..." Splicer was confused.
"Yeah, yeah... Of course..." Why did he even bother trying?
"But if you licked it off the third rail..." Splicer tacked on with a matter-of-fact tone.
Damn, Aurich could only think, if that's true, that's fucking metal...
_ _
It almost made the skunk want to ask more questions. Yet, at the same time, there was no fun ribbing and teasing the wolf when the wolf gave no reaction. Splicer finished the prep work and with a hollow thank you and bow, he was gone, back to his room to sit in front of his damaged table. He waited for his meal, he hated the meals that came after he cooked, instead of water it would always be accompanied by a drink that tasted strongly of liquor and crackled heavily with spicy carbonated sweetness.
Far too good for product...
_ _
But he graciously drank and ate everything he was offered, wasting good food on something like him was one thing, but if he were to refuse the gracious offerings he was given. It would be the ultimate insult to his owner.
Owner knew best after all...
_ _
Sleep.
Wake up.
Another cycle...
Sleep.
Wake up.
Another cycle...
Sleep.
Wake up.
Another fucking cycle...
_ _
Laguna swore he was at his wit's end, he hated seeing his once perfect pet project in this state, but his main concern was research on nanites had also ground to a complete halt. A test subject for how the new nanite line reacted to various mental states was entirely useless if the only mental state they had was blank and complacent. He picked up his phone and dialed a number in annoyance, tapping his foot as he watched the motionless wolf doing his daily multi-hour-long staring contest with a table.
"Pick up the god dam- Ah, Vay! Thanks for picking up... Listen. I need you. YES, it's high priority! No more questions, get your ASS to the facility. I don't CARE what mission you're on right now..."
Sleep.
Maybe this cycle will be different?
Wake up.
Trial day, proceed to the elevator.
Trial day? That was a new thing to the wolf. No matter, he would comply all the same! He hopped on the elevator and stepped out on an office floor, much like the one he was usually set to work on, but all the light were off. Rather strange... maybe he was supposed to change all the lightbulbs on the floor? He waited for further instructions... Big bold, black letters, unlike the pink he was used to appeared in his vision.
"Run 5:00"
Run? What exactly was he running from? Where was he supposed to run to? He stood there in stunned silence as the timer counted down to zero.
"Hide 10:00"
Now he was supposed to hide?
A midnight black otter stepped off the elevator, he looked at the small wolf's blank eyes who returned the stare without blinking. Vay would have been impressed if the sniveling wolf he knew before was the one giving him that unflinching stare, but he knew the signs of a ruined mind, there wasn't anything behind those eyes.
"I fuckin' knew it" Vay muttered to himself, walking up to the wolf. He kicked the wolf in the sternum, sending him reeling onto his back before flipping all the way over onto his stomach. "...waste my time."
"I-I'm sorry for not hiding sir..." Splicer was coughing as he got into a kneeling position, assuming the otter hit him for not following his orders.
"Don't you dare apologize to me with that voice!" Vay screamed, he hated when his targets didn't show any emotion, ruined all the fun.
Splicer saw the backhand coming, he didn't flinch, if anything he leaned into it. The force of the otter's knuckle connecting to the side of his muzzle jerked his head to the side. Splicer's vision blurred, he knew he deserved it. He deserved whatever he was told he deserved.
"My apologi-" Splicer couldn't even finish the word before he felt the knee connecting with his nose. The wolf heard a loud clack as his jaw slammed shut.
...
Laguna looked at the scene through the screen in abject horror, he knew Vay was going to take out his frustrations on the wolf, but he had no idea how bad it would be. He swallowed, he could still stop what was going on, but held himself back from calling it all off. He was holding onto the faint hope that somehow the otter would knock something loose, get the wolf to show some emotion, anything really. Another thing he hated to admit was how good the data was for how efficient the nanite were at repairing organic matter. He was glad if nothing else that he could mute the cctv camera...
...
Crack There goes another rib... I deserved that...
Crack I deserve this... The wolf felt emptier than usual.
_ _
_ _ The poor nanites in the wolf's body were working overtime repairing his battered body. Splicer didn't really pay it any mind, the pain was just a sign he did something wrong, he just had to figure out what it was so he could satisfy the otter. He felt a sharp pain in his tail, his body was yanked up and tossed down the hall like a stuffed animal.
I deserved that...
_ _
_ _ Splicer pushed himself back up to his kneeling position, his nose was dripping blue blood onto the carpet. He coughed.
_Now I'm making a mess of the carpet, I really deserve it now...
_
Vay approached the wolf ready to continue where he left off. He stopped in awe as the wolf began to lick the carpet below him trying to clean it up. He had reached his limit. He loved inflicting pain more than most. But there was no joy in trying to break something that was already so broken that their sole focus was cleaning their own blood out of the carpet below them. He spat on the wolf's bobbing head.
"Th-thank... you... sir..." Splicer made out between licks and coughs, tongue crackling with electricity. If the beating was done, that must mean he finally satisfied the otter somehow.
"Sorry sir. I can't do this anymore, even I have my limits..." Vay called out to the empty space around him in disgust, he walked to the elevator.
Laguna understood.
Splicer finished tongue cleaning the carpet as he tried to rise to his feet, no good, his tibias were shot, maybe broken?
This is fine, crawling is more appropriate for product anyways. The wolf reasoned.
He slowly made his way to the elevator, allowing himself a brief moment of respite as he laid on the cold floor, he hated to admit how soothing it was to his aching body. He felt himself rolling face first onto the wipe your paws mat. He wanted to go sit next to the daily and wait for the sleep command, but he couldn't even get a finger to move. As if his mind was being red, he saw the sweet words of his owner appear.
Sleep
He wanted to make it to his crate, but he felt himself drifting off to sleep before he could even react. He almost allowed a smile to grace his lips as he was given mercy from the pain, but product doesn't smile, so he held it in.
Aurich entered Splicer's room from the elevator making sure not to step on the wolf's sleeping body. He picked up the frail frame and laid it on the cushion in the crate before looking over at the table across the room. He walked over and unraveled the gifted knife set, saddened that they sat unused since Splicer's breaking. Aurich had personally requested it, Laguna saw no reason why he shouldn't grant the skunk's request.
Laguna understood.
A chef shouldn't touch another chef's knives, and as much as he hated to admit it, Splicer was a new wolf now. The longer this went on, the less likely it seemed there would be a return to the old one.
He traced a finger down one of the scratch marks the wolf had used to measure time, a habit they had long since abandoned. He missed making bets with the other unseen furs and pets who worked around the facility of how deep and long the next one would be, even Laguna started to play along. Laguna probably missed the game the most, he had a notepad he kept on his desk that was exclusively full of rough tally marks. Aurich left, Laguna sighed as he made another rough scratch, digging his pen into paper, as if mimicking the wolf's rough claw marks would make a difference.
It didn't... Obviously it wouldn't. The wolf would be out for at least 3 scratches as the nanites worked day and night to bring the wolf's body back to a reasonable working condition, who could say though. Damages inflicted by Vay were, impressive, to put it lightly.
Boring, it was all so, boring. How many days had it been? The scratches on paper said 57 days had passed since Splicer was broken.
Another.
Fucking.
Cycle...